SIPA and SPS Unions: Criminal liability is individual, therefore those responsible were reported, not the institutions

(Patria) - In connection with the filing of a criminal complaint against certain members of the Council of Ministers of BiH and members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of "Negligent work in service" (Article 224 of the Criminal Code of BiH), which was submitted on September 16, 2025, to the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the SIPA Union, the UINO BiH Union, and the SPS Union, we wish to highlight the following:

- Criminal liability is individual

According to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, any person who, through negligent action or omission in the performance of an official function, causes harm to another is criminally liable. In practice, this means that only those members of government bodies who, through their actions or omissions, committed the act are responsible, not the body as a whole.

- Collective bodies are not criminally liable

The Council of Ministers of BiH and the Presidency of BiH, as collective bodies, do not have the legal capacity to be bearers of criminal liability. Therefore, the criminal complaint does not charge these bodies as a whole, but exclusively individuals who, based on suspicion, acted negligently in the performance of their official duties.

A criminal complaint was filed against Srđan Amidžić, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Borjana Krišto, Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Željko Komšić, Željka Cvijanović, and Denis Bećirović, members of the Presidency of BiH, on suspicion that their negligent actions or omissions caused property damage in the amount of at least 25,000,000 KM and seriously violated the rights of 22,500 employees in BiH institutions.

With this statement, we wish to clarify to the public that:

- The legal framework of the Criminal Code of BiH clearly distinguishes individual liability from the political or moral responsibility of the collective.

- The criminal complaint is not directed against institutions or a collective body, but against specific individuals for whom there is a reasonable suspicion of having committed a criminal offense.

Representatives of unions at the state level were informed of all the above, and despite this, after the Union of Civil Servants and Employees in BiH Institutions, the BiH Police Union, and the DKPT Union insisted on filing a criminal complaint against the entire Council of Ministers and the Presidency of BiH without pointing to individual liability, the SIPA Union, the UINO Union, and the SPS Union decided to file it independently, announced Edin Kahrimanović, President of the SIPA Union, and Mladenka Hrkalo, President of the SPS Union.